Low salaries make the Portuguese turn down job offers

Employees appear to be "more selective" of their job choice, is stated in an essay on employment by the consultant Hays.

More than half of professionals currently working have turned down at least one job offer last year; in most cases, the main reason to do so was a low salary offer.

These conclusions are presented in the Labor Market Guide (Guia do Mercado Laboral), based on the survey made by the consultant Hays to more than 840 employers and around 2,600 professionals. According to the survey, there has been a “significant increase” in the percentage of professionals who rejected job offers, going from 47% in 2015 to 53% in 2016.

In almost half of the cases (49%), Hays states “the salary offered was the main reason for refusals, which seems to indicate the wage component is still very significant when assessing new job offers”. The lack of interest in the project and the contractual conditions being offered were also the main reasons to refuse a job offer, in 37% and 31% of cases, respectively.

"The fact is that qualified professionals seem to be increasingly more selective of the choice of their next project.”

Hays

Labor Market Guide

This year, the percentage of companies looking to hire is larger than employees who want to change jobs: 73% against 71%, respectively. As for employees who are in fact available to change jobs, their main motivations are good career progression prospects, the desire for more interesting projects and the wage.